Long time lurker, first time poster. Like many of you, i have more bikes than I can ride. That didn't stop me from recently purchasing for a modest fee (rather than my usual trick of council clean-up) a badly treated but reasonably original Speedwell. The reason given to SWMBO was i "rescued" it before someone got it, stripped it, threw the rusty parts in the bin, stripped off the original paint (box lining and decals included) painted it flouro pink, and put orange wheels on it. The Sturmey Archer AW and Williams cranks date it to 1959, and from comparing pictures of bikes with similar paintjobs, I think it's a special sports. After cleaning off some spraypaint/grease/dirt/unmentionables, it's come up really nice, and I'm trying to keep it as original as I can. I'll put up some pictures when i get some more posts up. Anyway, I'm after some opinions on wheels and a crank problem.

Wheels - the rear AW 3 speed is laced to a chromed steel Araya 27" 40-hole rim (were Arayas put on Speedwells in this era?) It's in ok, condition, some pitting, spokes DED dead. I'm toying with the idea of putting some alloy 700c rims and running something like Schwalbe Delta cruisers in 35mm creme. The reason behind this would be: better braking, much better tire selection, take a lot of weight off (not a big concern) and i like the look of the slightly fatter tires. BUT, would it take too much away from how the bike originally looked? Compounding the problem is finding a classic looking silver rim in 40 hole that will also come in a 32 for the front. The velocity Dyad is ok but hardly era correct looking. Any suggestions? Anybody got some half decent 700c that resemble an older steel rim tucked away? The front a Durex 55 from Germany, any idea if that would have been original?

The Cranks - Williams B100 that had seen better days but came up really nice. That was until i test mounted them on the spindle and noticed a problem. The hole in the arm that accepts the bb spindle is elongated (i guess from riding it with a loose cotter for too long) meaning that when the cotter is installed, the crank is pulled off-parallel to the frame. Has anyone had any luck bending the crank bank by a few degrees to compensate for this (que solid workbench and BIG lever)? Or will i just be wasting my time to have the cotter wear too fast from this problem anyway?

Anyway, any help appreciated, I hope to get some pics up soon, if only to help someone else ID a frame or part or something.

Wheels - look to the UK specialists like SJS Cycles and others that do many heritage and odd rims. Don't go 700C.

Crank - two options: first is to weld up the hole and re-drill it; second is to drill out the hole and drift in a correct sized sleeve. I prefer the latter and a decent small parts engineering shop could do it. Don't try to bend the cranks as it'll convert them to scrap...

Good idea with the cranks Silent. i did think about shimming it but it would be hard with an egg shaped hole, so making it round again would make it easier. I've just bought an old lathe, but may have to get a bit more experience before attempting this job

Re: 700c, do you say not to do it because it won't be original? 8mm difference in diameter shouldn't make it look too different as the larger tires will come out to about the same diameter as 27"?

cmc75 wrote:Re: 700c, do you say not to do it because it won't be original?

Mostly. But also because there are so few modern 700C rims that look the business on an older bike without looking...well....naff. The only ones I can think of off hand is some of the Rigida rims that VeloOrange and others do.

The araya 40 hole rim on the back would not be original for 1959, the front Durex may be.Crank straightening has been covered before, but the easiest way is to mount the crank on an old frame, lay the frame on the ground, stand on the frame, use the biggest shifter you can find on the crank, and pull it up or down to bend the crank to where you want it. I did not invent this method, I think they have been doing this since about 1890. Better still. buy a new or good used Williams crank and throw that one away. Warren

Yep, another set of Williams, the only problem is that when they come up now, they usually go for large $'s, hence trying to figure out if it's feasible to fix these ones. There's also the fact I'm stubborn, or as I term it, like a challenge.

John J, yep , seen your thread, very nice looking machine, your paint is in better nic than mine and mine is blue, but apart from that I think they could be twins. Do you ride yours much or is it a wall hugger? I've got a 60's speedwell that I ride to the shops that always gets some looks and comments, funny for something that was once quite pedestrian.

Well, it took a while but the resto is now pretty much done. You can see what I started with in the first couple of pics. Still need to put in some more period correct tubes, and find the correct rear brake blocks (the ones with the tab that hit the seatstays under heavy braking). A summary of work and changes:

* A few hours with metho/turps/gum remover/water/wet and dry snadpaper to take off the aftermarket spraypaint/duct tape/refelctive tape/grime.* a few coats of clear to protect whats left of the original paint. It looked very dull without it and polishing would have just taken off more pinstriping.* dissasemle amd clean/polish EVERYTHING! A linishing wheel is your friend for this.* replace Williams cranks with some less worn Williams from '56.* Service SA AW-3 hub, making sure all the bits go back in.* Lace original hubs to 700c Velo Orange Raid rims. This meant putting a 40 hole rear into a 32 hole hub, which needs two different spoke lengths, head scratching, and diagram drawing.* replace saddle and pedals with something more period correct, replace bars with something more cruising friendly.* new cable inners/outers, make new SA cable with brazed brass tube.* new tyres. The Michelin World Tour were the closest I could find to matching the old Dunlop Speed whitewalls. They measure out to about 34mm width, and are pretty cheap.

What it started like:

Now:32 into 40 means 4 spare holes per flange, evenly spaced. Worked, ok, in the end...Monitor Ventura brakes, not as sought after as the Speedster model, but in reasable condition and they stop well on aluminium rims.Durex 55 hub, made in Germany (the same as the hub on JohnJ's 58 Speedwell, so I'm guessing it's originalSturmay Archer even stamped their pulliesI'm guessing a TCD replacement shifter, functional but not as nice looking as a '50s unitManaged to save the oiler cover

Pictured with my 65'ish Speedwell, a curbside find years ago. Unfortunately it didn't have too much original on it, so it's a bitser fixed wheel at the moment. It is the boomerang style of decal, which I haven't seen many of, maybe they didn't do this design for too long before switching to imported frames? I've got a 56 frame which I'm replacing the top and down tubes on as they were badly crimped in a previous head-on by someone. Hopefully will another pic soon with all three. How may Speedwells can one own?

Very nice to see someone else likes Special Sports bikes. I have 7 old Speedwells, mostly Special Sports bikes. They bring back strong childhood memories and I like them a lot, but because I hardly ever ride them I think I only need only half as many. Good to see your bikes are going concerns.

speedywheels wrote:Very nice to see someone else likes Special Sports bikes. I have 7 old Speedwells, mostly Special Sports bikes. They bring back strong childhood memories and I like them a lot, but because I hardly ever ride them I think I only need only half as many. Good to see your bikes are going concerns.

speedywheels wrote:Sorry I can't post pictures, the picture posting instructions are all double dutch to me, and I am a very slow learner.

Frailer5 kindly posted pictures of some of my Speedwells on page 73 of the Repco Appreciation page.

PM me again re any more pics; you can email them to me and I'll upload to my smugmug, do links, and get them on this thread. Have a huge unused limit on smugmug.Easy peasy. I upload/download graphics crap all day at work... do it in my sleep..... sorry, the crap is the work stuff, not your Speedies.

Speedy, they are awesome, a full rangle from well used to the purple boomerang that looks like it's just come off the production line. My girlfreind thought I was getting a little Speedwell obsessed, so I showed her your collection. You wouldn't by any chance be hiding away some Speedwell blue mudguards would you?

A quick post resurection here, The dark green Special Sports Speedwell shown above, is it a 1959?, I have a frame and fork set I am trying to date and that one in particular is the closest I have come across so far.I can provide a picture of my Frame and Fork se id needed.

I had thought my dark green frame was 1960 but I just checked the cranks and they are made in 1958. Maybe I put the wrong cranks on years ago? Certainly it's around 1959. The green frame has more fancy lugs than the others and the frame no is V51201.

The red one is 1957. The Black one is 1958 and the repainted purple one is 1966.

speedywheels wrote:I had thought my dark green frame was 1960 but I just checked the cranks and they are made in 1958. Maybe I put the wrong cranks on years ago? Certainly it's around 1959. The green frame has more fancy lugs than the others and the frame no is V51201. The red one is 1957. The Black one is 1958 and the repainted purple one is 1966.

cranks made in England in '58 stand a good chance of not being fitted to a bike in Australia till '59, doesnt meal all '58 dated cranks are in a '59 bike but a lot would have been.

The Frame I have here has V 9009 serial, and fancy lugs the headtube badge is riveted on and looks to have been a dark brown colour, the paint is almost non existent and will likely need re doing (dammit)The forks have chrome/nickel plated dropouts too but have been painted over many years ago, I will try to get pics up for you to have a sussy of it.

As your frame has the more fancy lugs I suspect its possibly a Speedwell Flash or other more up market model than the Special Sports. Your frame was probably red when new and the varnish top coat has aged to make it appear brown. My dark green SSS was a much brighter green when new. Did you buy your bike in the Newcastle area recently?

This one was actually on the top of a rather large scrap metal pile at a recycling centre/dump in a very small country town, I had my wife up on the pile digging it out ...she was actually quite enthusiastic, the bike looked like it had been rebuilt with an array of parts stretching thru a few decades and to be honest I would suggest the only original parts would be the cranks, stem and headset, the rest is a mix of parts including riser bars with mtb brake levers, kkt alloy toestrap pedals, no name alloy calipers, shimano 3 speed hub with a very agricultural sprocket conversion(a larger sprocket literally bolted to a smaller one to combat the mountainous area it was found in, quite ingenius actually) and the most god awful sun dried gel seat you have ever seen LOL